Follow by Email

Saturday, January 28, 2012

I hope that you've all returned with an eager excitement to see updates from our last post, however, today we are going to Nick Cave's show at the Fabric Workshop. You may be thinking, "Well, what is the correlation here?" Quite frankly, there is none--but we must go! "I will kick myself if I don't make it over to Nick Cave's show today," said Dianne earlier. We are calling it an early day in the studio to catch a glimpse of his infamous sound suits. Updated pictures of the finished fabrics and also the serging process will be available to you on Monday afternoon.

Have a lovely weekend and please check back with us on Monday!

Francesca van Stolk
Guest Blogger
Studio Assistant

Well the best laid plans.... we didn't get there in time... the city was awash with Auto Show traffic. Will try again soon ... the show is up til Feb. 12.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Outside the warming brick walls of Dianne's factory-turned-artist-studio in Philadelphia, lies the remainder of the city's first snow fall of the new year. Slick ice and crunchy snow create a winter blanket under our feet. Inside her studio, one can dismiss the freezing cold weather; walls are adorned with vibrant fiber wall-works measuring taller than both she and I, blooming orchids line the window sill, works of art both contemporary and historical patchwork the walls, and plush colorful chairs adorned in her own fibers invite you to sit in for a moment her world.

Today will be reminiscent of other productive days for Dianne, but for myself and her fortunate readers, it will be brand new; today, we take each of you along in the intimate moments that create these personal scarves. Today, we share A Day With Dianne.

Preliminary Actions:
BeforeDianne can create her scarves, many preliminary steps must be taken.
1. Soda-soak your silk! This is a necessary process which allows the silk to accept dye.
2. Allow your fabric to air dry. Do not rinse out the soda soak!
3. Pin your fabric taughtly as pictured below. It should be tight like a trampoline.

4.Pre-select where divisions will be made for your scarves. Today, we have marked these areas by creating a border.

5. Today, Dianne is using a deconstructed silkscreen. This screen was created at an earlier date for silkscreens often take hours to dry. Print paste has been mixed with her color of choice, and is then used to transfer the screen's image.

6. Pictured Above, Dianne places a straight-edged piece of plastic over her borders to allow herself the freedom to print over them.

7. Because there is now a perfect print of her screen on the plastic,
Dianne instinctively flips over the plastic and uses a rubber roller to transfer the
image; many actions like this are taken in her studio to avoid wasteful consumption. This particular decision allowed Dianne to receive a hue much lighter than she would have received with direct silkscreen. Over time, decisions like these contribute to her repertoire of how to effectively manipulate her materials.

8. Accent details are applied by hand to merge the color relationships.

9. Very often, new colors are brought in that were not used in the initial border or screen. Here is the first phase of adding color:

10. The second phase:

Check back with us shortly to see the final results post-washing, ironing, and sewing!
Want to know more? Me too! Contact Dianne for workshop availability and/or private appointments at: dhricko27@gmail.com

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I am so tickled that "Bebop" has been selected to be the Poster Child for the Art Cloth Network show. This show will feature the works of 15 members of the Art Cloth Network and will be part of FiberPhiladelphia.

Any one with in interest in fibers should immediately stop reading this blog and go right to www.fiberphiladelphia.org and get the latest updates on what is happening. Then get yourself to the city of brotherly love and see us getting our fiber on.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

I was invited to post to pinterest and so of course had to give it a whirl. Now I am trying to change an image that is on my website, but in a very rectangular format. So am putting it here so I can transfer it there. All part of my steep learning curve. Will report back if I am successful. Well got it this far. So we will see.

After some thrashing about I called my much more computer literate studio assistant and with several clicks it was accomplished. Of course I have not learned how to do it yet, but that may come. So if you have time to spare go visit Pinterest and look for Dianne Koppisch Hricko. Happy New Year!